Portable street-car transfer-ticket-dispensing device.



. F. D. COVINGTON.

PORTABLE STREET GAE TRANSFER TICKET DISPENSING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 29, 1908..

906, 1 1 O. l Patented Dee. 8, 1908.

TRANSFER A FRANK D. COVINGTON, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

PORTABLE STREET-CAR TRANSFER-TICKET-DISPENSING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

.ya v Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

Application led. January 29,A 1908. Serial No.` 413,173.A

To all whom it may' concer/n:

Be it known that I, FRANK D. COVINGTON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of IVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful'Improvements in Portable Street-Car Transfer-Ticket-Di'spensing Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being'had to .the accompanying. drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a portable dispensing device for transfer tickets adapted to be carried and used by the conductors of Astreet railway companies, and it has for its object theprovision of means whereby absolute protection may be afforded'street railway companiesagainst loss through fraudulent issuance 'of transfer tickets by dishonest conductors employed by such companies.

It is a well known'fact that under the systems heretofore in vogue by street railway companies of issuing transfer ticketsthrou li their conductors it has been possible for dlshonest conductors Ito make fraudulent use of the transfer tickets, to which they have had free access, .and that there has been great loss to such companies through impostur-es on the part of the conductors. It will be suilicient to here make mention of but one kind lof such impostures; namely, that of the conductors of different divisions of street railway lines acting in conjunction with each other in such manner that one conductor is able to record 4cash fares received from passengers as transfer ticket fares instead of cash fares, and obtain from another conductor a sullicient number of transfer tickets to make his apparent fare receipts as indicated bythe registers upon his car correspond with such registers although as a matter of fact he has received fares in cash for which he does not account to the street railway company.

My transfer ticket dis en-sing device is designed toovercome frau ulent practices, such as that mentioned by street'railway vconductors,.in such manner as to render itimpossible for the conductors to issue transfer tickets without having received cash fares therefor, inasmuchI as the supplies of trans.-

fer tickets 4carried by the conductorslare. honest and'not yfreely accessible to the. con- 1 doctors, and are only made accessible singly by coin controlled mechanism which is actuated by the deposit of coins into the devlce to release the ticket dispensing mechanism. The device also provides for the recording of the cash fares received for the issuance of transfer tickets and the issuance of transfer tickets, thus making it incumbent upon the conductors to account to the street-railway Icompany according to the numbers of transfer tickets issued by them.

A further object `of my invention is to enable street railway companies to dispense with registers upon their cars for the recording ofltransfer tickets as distinguished .from cash fares and provide for the conductors registering' all fares in a single register, this being made possible by my improvement, due to the fact that cash fares must be paid before the transfer tickets can be issued by the. conductors and consequently the transfer tickets, When received by the conductors and registered, may be regarded, in 'so far as the conductor is concerned, as cash fares. y v

Figure I is a View partly in front elevation and partly in vertical section of my improved portable transfer device. Fig. II is a vertical cross section taken on line II--IL Fig. Il Fig. III is a vertical cross section taken on line III-III, Fig. I.

In the accompanying drawings: l-designates the housing of my device which is subdivided interiorly by a vertical partition 2 'to provide a transfer receiving compartment A andv a com controlled mechanism' compartment B. Access to the transfer compartment is provided through the medium of a cover 3 that is hinged to the back .of the housing and is adapted to be locked in a Aclosed position at the front of the housing,

so as to prevent unauthorized access to thev compartment by the conductor into whose charge the device is delivered for receiving.

cash fares and the issuance of transfer tickets in return therefor.

The device lisin the form of a boi:v designed to beV carried by the conductor and to provide for its being readily carried by him I furnish each device with eyes or loops 4 adapted to receive a strap by which ythe device may be suspended from the con- .ductars shoulders.

5 is a money box thatdepends from the .housing 1 and whichl is designed to be kept IOS" in a closed condition to prevent access thereinto by the conductor while the device is in his possession.

6 designates a spool loosely mounted in the housing 1 and on which is Wound a strip C of transfer tickets which is preferably perforated in order that when the strip is delivered step by step from the device they may be detached singly from the strip to be issued by the conductor. To permit of the delivery of the transfer strip from the housing l, I provide an exit slot `7 inthe front of the housing and guideways 8 and 9 extending inwardly in the housing beneath and above said slot. ln the front of the housing l is a sight opening that is closed by a glass or other sight plate 10 through which the transfer strip may be viewed at the interior of the housing and to permit of its being so viewed the upper guide 9 is provided with a sight opening 9', see Fig. 111.

1l designates an upper feed roller that is located in the transfer compartment A and 12 is a lower feed roller located in juxtaposition to the feed roller ll and between which the transfer strip passes to be fed through the exit slot of the housing 1. A spindle 13 of the lower feed roller 12 extends through the partition 2 in the housing 1, the compartment B and to the exterior of said housing, and it has secured to it a knob 14 by which the feed roller may be turned in feeding the transfer sheet from the transfer chamber A.

In the coin controlled mechanism com-v partment B of my dispensing device is a curved coin chute l5 that is open at its upper end to receive coins and is open aty its lower end to permit the discharge of coins from the chute into the money box 5. 16 designates a segmental disk xed to the spindle 15 of the lower feed roller l2 and located in the compartment B. This disk is provided with radial shoulders 17 and 18 which are suitably spaced apart from each other. 19 is a dog that is pivotally mounted on the vertical partition 2 within the compartment B and which is provided with a lforwardly extending armhaving a nose 20 that is adapted to engage the forward shoulder 17 of 'the segmental disk 16 after each complete rotation of the 'feed roller 12 andwhich serves to hold said roller from renewed rotation until it is freedby the disengagement of said nose therefrom. 'lhe `dog19 is alsprovided with a rearwardly vextending inclined trip arm 21V whereby it may be operated and that rojects into the coin chute l5 in order that it may be struck by a cointo actuate the dog-and elevate the noseI 20 out o f its normal position in front of the forward shoulder 17 of the segmental disk-16. The dog is furtherprovided with a depending arm 22 having a foot 22 which is adapted to be moved into contact with the perimeter of the segmental disk 16 for the movement of the the purpose of limiting th O h th edi r ug e. In um dog when it is trippe of the coin thathas descended in the'coinchute to the trip arm 21.

23 is a spring controlled pawl that normally occupies a position in front of the rear shoulder 18 of the segmental disk 16 and serves as a means for preventing retrograde rotation of saidl segmental disk and the lower feed roller 12 with the spindle of which said segmental disk is associated.

When a transfer ticket isv to be issued from my device by a street car conductor he deposits the coin tendered to him in payment of a passengers fair in the coin chute and the coin descends in said chute until it strikes the trip arm 21 of the dog 19, thereby cansing said trip arm to be moved downwardly and the nose 20 of the dog to be elevated suiciently to permit of the lowerfeed roller 12 and the segmental disk 16 being rotated for the delivery of a single transfer ticket of the transfer ticket sheet C to the exterior of my device. At the timethatthe nose of the dog -is initiallyV freed from the segmental disk 16, they foot 22 of saidtdog rests against the segmental disk16 at a point of its edge which is farthest removed. from the axis of the segmental disk, and the dlg is therefore not permitted to move aK4 su cient distance at this time to allow escape of the coin past the trip arm 21. As the segmental -disk is turned, however, its. rear shoulder 18 passes the point of the foot 22 asl and the depending arm is permitted to approach more closely to the axes of the segmental disk with the result of the trip arm 21 partaking of a further downward movement so that the coin. previously resting thereagainst will escape from the trip arm and `descendthrough the kchute to the money box 5. After the dog has been relieved by the escape of the coin therefrom it returns to its normal position and the nose 20 thereof iio is consequently so'disposed as to be engaged by the forward shoulder 17 ofthe segmental disk 16 upon the completion of a single. rotation of the lower feed roller 1 2, whereby the feed roller is only allowed to feed a-sin le transfer ticket of the sheet C to the exterior of the dispensing device to supply the demand of thepassenger from Whom he has received a cash fare as payment therefor, and which cash fare has een deposited in the money box or till of the device.

It 1sy desirable to provide in my device a l register and an audible signal, the former having the utility ofindicating the number oftransfer tickets issued from the device and the latter indicating the withdrawal vof each transfer ticketissued... A v v n 24 is a shaftextendmg. across the transfer ticket compartment A and into the coin controlled mechanism compartment B. This shaft has mounted upon it in the compartment A and back of a sight opening in front of the housing l an initial recording wheel that may be fixed to the-shaft, and a series of supplemental recording wheels 26 that may be loosely mounted upon the shaft and be operated by suitable connection with the initial wheel 25 in a manner similar to that commonly employed in various types of registers and for which no invention per se is herein claimed. The shaft 2-l has rigidly' mounted upon it within the compartment B a ratchet wheel 27 and it has loosely mounted upon it alongside of said ratchet wheel a pawl carrying arm 28 to which is pivoted a pawl 29, see dotted lines Fig. II, that is arranged in engagement with the ratchet wheel 27.

30 is a retractilng spring that is connected to the pawl carrying arm 28 and by which said arm is returned to its normal position after it has been moved in a forward direction. 4

3l is a trip arm extending downwardly from the pawl carrying arm and adapted to be engaged by a radial pin 32-which is carried by a sleeve 16 that extends from the segmental disk 16. Each time that the lower feed roller 12 is rotated for the delivery of a transfer ticket from my device, the radial pin 32 is rotated with the spindle of said lower feed roller and acts toimparta` forward movement to the trip arm 3l with the result of moving the pawl carrying arm forwardly. As a consequence, the pawl 29 acts upon the ratchet wheel 27 to impart a partial rotation to the registering wheel shaft 24C for the actuation of the recording wheels thereon and immediately after this action has taken place, the radial pin 32 escapes from thetrip arm 3l and the pawl carrying arm 28 is returned to its normal position by the retracting spring 30.- .The

trip arm 31 is therefore returned toits norvprising a housing, adapted to be ycarried by a conductor, provided with a chamber for holding a strip of tickets, and an exit for said tickets, lower and upper feed rollers for ldischarging the tickets through the exit, a

segmental disk having forward and rear radial shoulders and fixed to the spindle of the lower feed roller, means for rotating the lower feed roller, and a pivoted dog provided with a forwardly extending arm having a nose adapted to engage the forward shoulder of the segmental disk, a depending arm having a foot adapted. to engage the rear shoulder of the segmental disk, and a rearwardly extending trip arm whereby'the dog is operated. y

A portable ticket, dispensing device comprising a housing, adapted to be carried by a conductor,vprovided with a chamber for holding a strip of tickets, and an exitfor said tickets, lower and upper feed rollers for discharging the tickets through the exit, a segmental disk having forward and rear radial shoulders and fixed tothe spindle of the lower feed roller, means for rotating the lower feed roller, a pivoted dog provided with a forwardly extending arm having a nose adapted to engage the forward shoul-` der of the seglnental disk, a ldependlng arm having a foot adapted to engage the rear shoulder of the segmental disk, and a rearwardly extending trip arm whereby the dog is operated, and a spring controlled pawl, located in front of the rear shoulder of the segmental disk.

FRANK D. COVINGTON.

In presence/of*- MARIE E. KEARNEY, WARDELL MOYER." 

